Russia burning as huge mushroom cloud erupts after devastating Ukrainian strike

Ukraine launched a dramatic series of strikes on oil refineries, defence plants, a military airfield, and radar facilities early Saturday morning. The hits came after Donald Trump moved nuclear submarines closer to Russia after threats of war with the US from senior official Dmitry Medvedev.

In a dawn strike, a huge fireball explosion hit the military-linked Novokuybyshevsk oil refinery in the Samara region, sending a mushroom cloud rising into the sky. The plant supplies aviation fuel for Russian combat aircraft, which have been used to strike civilians in Ukraine. Ukrainian Telegram channel Exilenova+ boasted that the strike led to flames the size of 109 Putins - some 590ft into the sky, or 180 metres.

The channel measured the diminutive Putin as 5ft 5 inches, slightly smaller than most estimates.

Another key oil refinery in Ryazan - crucial for supplies to the capital city, Moscow - was also in flames.

Fires were reported raging close to a military airfield at Primorsko-Akhtarsk, in the Krasnodar region, used for Putin's drone strikes on Ukraine.

A “major hit” was reported on a Russian air defence radar company near Feodosia in Putin-occupied Crimea - military unit 66571. There are giant “balls” covering radio-technical stations - one the size of a nine-storey building.

Fires were recorded at the facility in the Tepe-Oba mountain range.

One woman died in drone strikes on the Electropribor plant in Penza city, making special-purpose telecommunication and cryptographic equipment for Putin’s war machine.

Eight giant explosions were heard over the city, followed by flames at the plant, which was struck by long-range Ukrainian drones.

According to reports, a defence-related radar plant in the city was also hit for the second time in three days.

Ukraine also hit targets in the Rostov region, leading to one death, according to reports.

The Ukrainian strikes on military-linked targets were in stark contrast to Putin’s assault on Kyiv on Thursday, one of the worst of the war.

A total of 31 people were killed, including five children, after Russia slammed a £2 million Iskander missile into a residential tower block in Kyiv.

Yet more strikes at civilian homes came overnight, with a strike on Balakliia, in the Kharkiv region, hitting residential buildings.

Russia also struck a hotel in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, near high-rise buildings and a dormitory. One injury was reported.

Three people were injured by Russian shelling in the Dnipropetrovsk region as civilian infrastructure facilities were destroyed and damaged.

Trump said Putin was a “tough cookie” as he hit out at the Russian dictator’s failure to engage in a peace process, and to go on killing.

He vowed to impose tough sanctions on Russia and countries purchasing oil from Moscow if there are no moves to a ceasefire before 8 August, but said there would be meetings before this.

“We'll see what happens. We're going to have some meetings,” he said.

Earlier, Trump sent two nuclear submarines “closer to Russia” in response to “highly provocative” statements from ex-president Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the Kremlin’s security council.

“We always want to be ready, and so I have sent two nuclear submarines to the region. I just want to make sure that his words are only words and nothing more than that,” said Trump.

“A threat was made by a former president of Russia, and we’re going to protect our people,” he said.

Medvedev had accused Trump of bringing war closer between Russia and the US.

“Every new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,” said Medvedev.